Discipline at the Dice Table: Avoiding Bad Bets When Playing Craps
Dozens of books have been written on craps, the rules, and how to get your best advantage. I will try to give you the basic rules and keep you away from bets with the largest house advantage or “vig”. Discipline is the key if you ever hope to win at any casino game. Discipline to walk away when you win, as well as discipline to place bets at an appropriate level. Most important is probably the discipline to avoid bad bets.Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½
The rules of craps are not that difficult. The person rolling the dice is called the shooter. It basically boils down to establishing a number or point on the come out or first roll of the dice. The point numbers are 4,5,6,8,9,or 10. That shooter rolls the dice until the point number is repeated or a seven is rolled. If the point number is repeated the cycle starts over and a new point is established. If a seven is rolled the next shooter begins their roll.�¯�¿�½
Craps is full of bad bets, but first let’s focus on the good bets. These include the pass line with odds, come bet with odds, and place bet on the six or eight. These bets have the lowest house edge and are some of the best bets at any game in the casino. The pass line bet is a bet made before the come out roll. The free odds bet is placed behind the pass line bet after the point is established, and pays the true odds for that number (4,5,6,8,9,10).Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½
The first group of bad bets are the hard way bets which are in the center of the layout. These bets include the hard eight, hard six, hard ten, and hard four. The hard ways are active until that number is rolled easy or a seven is rolled. These bets have house edge at or near 16%. This means that even if you win these bets the house takes a cool 16% off the top of your winnings. The hard ways are commonly called out by the dealer to try to drum up action. Anything the house is encouraging you to bet on is a bad bet.�¯�¿�½
Another set of bad bets are the components of a world bet. These are one roll bets. The any seven or “big red” bet has almost a twenty percent advantage for the house. The Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½yo’ bet is a one roll bet on the eleven that has a double digit house advantage. Boxcars, ace/deuce and snake eyes are single roll bets on the twelve, three, and two respectively. These are equally poor bets all with attractive payoffs but steep house advantage. Again these bets are called out and encouraged by the dealers-beware.Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½
These are just a few tips to help make your trip to the craps table an exciting one. Discipline to avoid bad bets will help you along the way to craps winnings.
